The Lepers

The Love From Above

Caulfield

The Lepers are a two piece of drums and guitar that manages to make a sound quite large and significant. Comparisons to the darker more experimental sides of Sonic Youth, Unwound, and Birthday Party will be the most obvious.

The Love From Above is probably only intended for people with an open mind, as far as music goes. There isn’t much to sing along with, rarely occasion to pump a fist in the air, and only random opportunity to tap the foot. If one is able to look past the initial lack of friendliness, this CD can become a welcome and handy evil buddy, replete with darkness, brooding, and peril throughout.

“Feel The Love” is the album’s first proper song, and the guitars and very warm, ringy, and highly creepy, and sound very similar to the guitar tone used by Sonic Youth for their Evol album. The drumming is tribal, and the vocals, strangely enough, sound like the lead singer of math-metal rockers System of a Down, without the weird accent.

“Instrumental” is probably my favorite song from the album; the tribal drumming, bizarre guitar lines, and overall feel of the song remind me of the late Babes In Toyland’s instrumental songs. The Lepers really cut loose on this song, too, spending a minute pounding away on a riff with some really dirty sounding distorted guitar work, whilst the drummer goes insane!

The Love From Above will make fans of math rock, art rock, and some goth kids very happy. I love the completely downtrodden and black nature of this album; it’s as if the world is at its worst for the 60 or so minutes that this album lasts. One hundred percent recommended for fans of the moodier side of life.

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